Lady s hoop-skirt



FREDERICKIULL, OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT.

LADYS HOOP-SKIRT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 22,875, dated February 8, 1859.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK HULL, of the town of Derby, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and improved mode for forming and making a bustle on ladies hooped or skeleton skirts so that the same may be increased or diminished at the pleasure of the wearer without the aid of either hoop, tape, or strap resting upon the back of the person wearing the same. y

The object of my improvements in hoop skirts is to simplify the mechanism for adjust-ing the size and form of the bustle, to suit the wearer. And my invention for effecting these objects, consists in arranging the bustle springs, so that the ends of the springs are brought near to, and in contact with the upper hoop-while the end of each successive spring from the upper to the lower one of the series constituting the bustle, is attached to the skirt farther back from the front than the one next above, and in connecting the bustle thus arranged by means of the skirt tapes, with a waistband so constructed and arranged as to be capable of being contracted or expanded both at the back and front, and thus change the position and adjustment of the bustle and also the skirt to suit the wearer.

The skeleton skirt is constructed in the usual manner with a band (H) at the waist to which is attached a series of tapes, in the present instance 1Q, are used extending to the lower hoop and arranged at proper distances apart to give support to a series of hoops which are attached to the bands by any of the well known means. The waistband H is arranged to fasten around the waist in front by any of the well known means, in the present instance hooks and eyes are used, and ity is also arranged so that it can be taken up or contracted at the back by means of center back hooks with eyes on either side.

Springs (partial hoops) are used to form the bustle and are arranged between the bustle and the upper hoop of the skirt and the waist-band, and in the present instance they are three in number, marked A, B, and C. These springs are placed at regular intervals apart, vary in length, the upper being the longer and extend from the rear of the skirt forwardslope downward, and are confined at their ends by the skirt tapes,

just above or in contact with the upper skirt hoop. The upper spring extends forward to the first tape on either side of the front tape Nos. l0 and 11 in drawing. The second spring recedes, its ends are confined by the second tapes from the front Nos. 8 and 9 ,in drawing and the end of the third spring is coniined by the third tape on either side of the center Nos. 7 and 8. These springs are also confined by the two next succeeding tapes, back from the tapes which hold the end, and slide through loops formed by any of the well known means on the remaining rear tapes,which loops are made sutliciently wide to allow the springs to move up and down on the tapes. The up per full hoop as well as all the bustle springs slide freely through the loops on the rear tape, so that when the waistband is contracted at the back, the rear tape will not bind and draw in the bustle springs.

Braces may extend from the point of the bustle springs, upward .and backward and be confined to the waist-band in order to give additional support to the upper hoop and the bustle springs, and alsoto throw the weight of the clothes pressing on the bustle, toward the back of the waistband so that in contracting the waist-band at the back, it will carry the bustle back with it.

In fastening the ends of the springs near to, or in Contact with the upper hoop, and at different points around the skirt, so that the point of attachment of each succeeding spring, from the upper to the lower one of the series, recedes backward; and in giving to the springs an upward and backward inclination, from the point of attachment of the ends, not only is the weight of the clothes on the bustle more uniformly distributed around the skirt but the ends of the bustle springs are retained in place more securely, and prevented from springing outward, be ing held by the upper hoopthan in those bustles in which the point ot' the springs are not coniined close to the upper hoopand do not recede and slope upward and backward. From the inclination given to the bustle springs, the weighton the bustle tends to draw the skirt tapes downward and for ward between the upper hoop and the waistband-and pull the waistband 'In the same direction-so that the contracting the waistband at the back also carries with it the bustle; thus the adjustment of the bustle is effected by the waist-band alone instead of l any other well known device may be used in by separate and independent devices-which heretofore have been the only means used to effect this object.

I do not confine myself to the number of springs used to form the bustle, to the angle of inclination these springs form with the hoop-or to fastening these springs to the particular tape or tapes as describedfor any number of springs may be used, and fastened to any other, or numberof skirt tapes, and in any manner that will prevent them from crowding forward and hold thier ends so as to receive support from the upper hoop. Neither do I confine myself to the means used for fastening` the waist-band in front and contracting it at the rear, as buckles on place of hooks and eyes to effect this object.

Having thus described my improvements in forming the bustle in skeleton skirts, what I claim therein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The combination of the sloping bustle springs with the waist-band adjustable at the back and front7 the .whole arranged substantially as described whereby the adjustment of the bustle is effected by the waistband alone.

FREDERICK HULL. Y

Vitnesses:

FOSTER P. ABBOTT, WM. B. lVoosTER. 

